"the whole purpose of immigration rules is to ensure that the new people are not a detriment to the people already living there." woah, OK. So what is the "ideal" number of immigrants? 0? 10? 100? Show your math. I don't have to answer that question because I believe in the free market. You do, as the Statist, because you're saying it needs to be limited. Who gets to decide who is and isn't a "detriment"? All of America was immigrants at some point. Should the Italians and Irish have been excluded from America, because a TON of people thought they should have back in the day?